President Obama is calling for a sustained national grass-roots campaign for gun control and other measures to curb an outbreak of mass shootings like the one last Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary school.

President Obama's approval rating is shooting up in the days following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and is now at its highest point since 2009, according to the latest Gallup tracking poll.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday he plans to send his chamber home for Christmas and then reconvene on Dec. 27 to try to work through the "fiscal cliff" — even as House Republicans said they'll keep their troops in town to try to strike a deal.

Americans say the best way to stop mass shootings like last week's school rampage in Connecticut is to increase police at schools and focus on mental health issues — and give lower priority to banning semi-automatic guns, according to the latest Gallup polling

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday that the House will pass his bill that would raise taxes on millionaires but extend tax cuts for everyone else, and said it's then up to President Obama to either accept that plan or be responsible for a tax increase on everyone.

The National Rifle Association, which had remained largely silent in the wake of the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults last week at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., said Tuesday in a statement the group has provided time for mourning "as a matter of common decency" and that it "is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."